El Salvador and its 6.3 million inhabitants have traditionally not been in the international limelight. Yet President Nayib Bukele’s controversial strategy to fight organized crime—which involved suspending some civil rights and detaining more than 70,000 people, leaving nearly 2 percent of the Central American country’s population in prison—has continuously made global headlines. The strategy has resulted in plummeting homicide rates, transforming the country from one of Latin America’s most dangerous into one of its safest. It has also made Bukele into a highly visible and divisive figure in the region.
For a growing number of conservative voters across Latin America, Bukele’s approach is the only way to wrest back control from increasingly powerful drug cartels. For example, in neighboring Costa Rica, Bukele was voted the country’s favorite politician, leading Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves to propose similar policies. As crime rates in countries such as Ecuador and Chile increase, Bukele’s approach is bound to inspire politicians there as well.
On the other hand, human rights organizations warn that El Salvador has seen a marked increase in repression. They’ve also noted that the government’s crackdown on gangs involved the systematic use of torture of detainees and threats to due process, such as access to a lawyer.
A second reason why Bukele has gained considerable visibility abroad is his innovative use of social media. El Salvador’s president has more than 7 million followers on TikTok alone and has developed a very unique style of “infotainment.”
This style may explain why opposition figures, such as Manuel Flores of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front and Joel Sánchez of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance, have struggled to gain traction ahead of the elections on February 4, when Bukele is expected to win by a landslide and remain president until at least 2028. Some opinion polls say up to 90 percent of voters approve of the president.
This has made it easier for the former mayor of San Salvador to undermine checks and balances, tame the country’s judiciary, and convince the Supreme Court to allow him to run for reelection, even though the country’s constitution explicitly prohibits consecutive terms. In addition, Bukele’s New Ideas party is set to retain control of the National Assembly, giving him unrestrained power and posing an acute threat to the country’s democracy.
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